SPEECH BY RAISU-L-ULAMA MUSTAFA CERIĆ

ON THE OCCASION OF ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY (1882-2002)
OF THE OFFICE OF RAISU-L-ULAMA AND THE INSTITUTION OF RIYASAT
IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Sarajevo
(Shawwal 17, 1423 – December 21, 2002)

Brothers and Sisters,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Excellencies,
Dear friends,

It is Almighty God who sends down water from the skies, and the channels flow, each according to its measure: but the torrent bears away the foam that mounts up to the surface. Even so, for that which they heat in the fire, to make ornaments or utensils therewith. There is a scum likewise. Thus does God show forth Truth and Vanity. For the scum disappears like froth cast out; while that which is for the good of mankind remains on the earth. Thus God does set forth parables .

Thus, life and history consist of the coexistence of continuity and change.  That is because life is in constant change in a continuity that is the most blessed gift of God. That is because history itself cannot survive the change without the continuity as the greatest blessing of the One who is not tired by keeping the Heavens and the Earth in place, for He is the Most Powerful. 

Similarly, the collective conscience and individual happiness of a nation consist of the coexistence of faith and recognition.  For faith is the most precious identity of man as the continuity of his memory and the recognition is man's most wanted right as his demand for freedom. 

Although equally important in the practical sense, yet the faith of the heart is more important than the recognition in history, because the soul that is fully aware of its real identity, which comes as a gift from God, will achieve its freedom more easily than the soul that forgets its identity. Therefore, we are told by God: Remember and teach: for remembrance and teaching benefit those who believe in God(فذكِّر فإنّ الذكري تنفع المؤمنين) , and therefore: Be you not like those who forget God, and He made them forget their own souls ... (و لا تكونوا كالذين نسوا الله فأنساهم أنفسهم)

The Bosnian  Muslims, more than once in their dramatic history, were fully aware of those Qur`anic messages. Therefore, between their given faith and merited recognition, they have chosen their faith as their inner security of the soul, but have never ceased the demand for their recognition in history as their inalienable right to freedom.  

Hence, the secret of the vitality of the Bosnian Muslims is in their trust in God and the answer to the question as to how the Bosnian Muslims have been able to survive for all these years in a world which, quite often, does not recognize their basic human rights, is in their faith in genuine truth and in promised justice.  Once again, here is the future of Bosnian Muslims – in their ability to accept necessary changes, while holding fast to the continuity of their Islamic tradition.

And the essence of the tradition of the Bosnian Muslims consists of the coexistence of their right to be the inseparable part of the universal Muslim World and their freedom to live in a society with their particular tradition among different nations and religious traditions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Europe as a whole.  Their right to be a part of a universal world of Islam provides them the unique spiritual security and cultural identity, whereas their freedom to live in a world of a unique experience of history, gives them the right to equal participation in the process of European civilizational maturity.  
In their effort to persevere in their inalienable right to their own Islamic tradition and their strong will to strive for their own freedom, the Bosnian Muslims today, after a hundred and twenty years experience in the European history, are one and unique community.  And, as repeatedly happens in history, those who have tried to disable them, in fact, have helped them to become a united and unique community.  

The Bosnian Muslims did not accept national assimilation because their national character is too historically famous, and, in spite of every degradation, too fine to make its annihilation desirable.  In the same way, the Bosnian Muslims rejected the civilizational isolation because the character of their Islamic culture is too strong, and, in spite of all historical temptations, too convincing to be disregarded.  Although significant changes have taken place in the way of their life, in clothing, food, education and entrepreneurship, the Bosnian Muslims have retained essential values of their culture in food, family life, community conscience, and business ethics which is, above all, the responsibility of the Islamic ethos as the basic motivation for their moral persistence.  
Furthermore, deeply aware of their cultural rights and moral obligations in the universal Islamic Community, the Bosnian Muslims have accepted the challenges of some European civilizational values, such as democracy and human rights as their advantage in relation to some other groups of Muslims in the world.  They accepted democracy because they understand that in a democracy men do not seek authority so that they may impose a policy.  They seek a policy so that they may impose authority. Likewise, in the idea of human rights, the Bosnian Muslims saw the opportunity for their cultural, national and economic emancipation as well as their equality with the different nations and religions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Europe.  

It would be, however, historically incorrect and morally irresponsible to say that the year 1882 in the history of Bosnian Muslims was a year without scars on their souls and without fear for their biological survival, as well as their religious and cultural self-determination.  However, by the fact of their deep religious conviction, their honest patriotism and their ever-felt historical responsibility, the Bosnian Muslims avoided their fall into the abyss of dark history and marked their direction of elevation to this day.  It was not easy to survive the cultural shock and civilizational transformation after a long cultural and civilizational experience that lasted for centuries, but it would have been even more regretful if they had completely surrendered to the force of a blind history.  

The Islamic Community is not the only, but it is the most significant institution in the modern history of Bosnian Muslims in which they find the sense of their unity and see the protection of their spiritual identity.  As a legitimate successor of spiritual and material values which were made in much longer periods of history than these hundred and twenty years, the Islamic Community today has a right and an obligation to clearly define its mission and to responsibly mark its plan for the future.  

In addition, the Islamic Community of Bosnia-Herzegovina has the right and obligation to continue to be the spiritual inspiration and moral orientation for Muslims in the whole Balkan, especially for Muslims in Sandžak, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Kosova, Macedonia and Serbia, because Islam is their common faith and history is their common challenge for their better future.  

Furthermore, the Islamic Community of Bosnia-Herzegovina can and should help Muslims in Europe with its tested experience of Islamic life in a dynamic European history and in the period of over one century.  The most important one being the experience, which indicates that, Europe is an open continent, which has adopted different spiritual values from the East – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  Thus, the European Continent has become the melting pot of different faiths which, after a bloody experience in history, have a common goal: peace, tolerance and coexistence that is based on the principle of the social contract which guarantees the inalienable rights to life, faith, freedom, property and dignity of each and every individual and each and every nation in Europe.  What makes the macrocosm of Europe in the unity of its diversity of many different faiths and cultures is exactly what makes the microcosm of Bosnia-Herzegovina in its long and rich history of inter-religious tolerance and neighborly coexistence.  

In light of that experience, it is possible to explain the state of Bosnian Muslims at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century.  Namely, the Bosnian Muslims have realized that there is no big difference between them at that time and the first Muslims whom Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. sent to Abyssinia to the Christian ruler Negus who provided them with peace and sanctuary in his land.  There is, however, a slight difference between these two cases in the fact that the Bosnian Muslims were not sent by anyone to the Austro-Hungarian ruler Francis Joseph I, but he came to them, to their homeland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and made the way for their religious life.  

But, isn't that also a uniqueness of the historical experience of the Bosnian Muslims?! For the Bosnian Muslims used to be for a long time the hosts to many different rulers who have been coming to and going from Bosnia, while the Bosnian Muslims stayed with a hope that the world will realize one day, especially their nearest neighbors and the whole of Europe, that in this very country, small as it is and rich in spirit as it were, is the real testing of moral responsibility and political maturity.  This is especially true today after the Dayton promise that the war criminals will be brought to justice for their crimes, that the refugees and displaced persons of Bosnia-Herzegovina will return to their homes, and that the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina will be able to live in the joy of their faith and the freedom of their homeland.  

The Islamic Community with an experience of over a century long finds in those promises its own challenge in the sense of devoted commitment to the moral reform of the Bosnian society.  Therefore, I take this opportunity to call upon all men and all nationalities in Bosnia-Herzegovina to see that it is time for all of us to begin to behave as genuine hosts to our common homeland.  With the uncountable gifts that come down from the Heavens and the riches offered by the earth, Bosnia-Herzegovina can make a better future for her children.  It is necessary, however, for every one of us to look into his/her soul and remove from it hate and intolerance toward another. It is, also, necessary for every one of us to look around him/herself and realize that the kind of poverty and misery of our people is degradation for all of us.  It is, indeed, time for every one of us to think and to know that the happiness of all citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina must come from true mutual respect among all of us.

Therefore, the future mission of the Islamic Community is to be the torchbearer in promoting true moral values and in the way of its educational programs to encourage people to nice behavior and good deeds in the Bosnian society.  The main duty of the Islamic Community is to promote the values of family life, the solidarity in the community, and the moral responsibility. For this to be achieved, however, the Islamic Community needs help from all those who know the real value of institutional Islamic teaching in Bosnia-Herzegovina which has its long tradition of a responsible relationship toward the public values of a multi-religious society such as the Bosnian. It is because of this challenge that we take that we expect that the law of restitution, be passed by the Government, that the law of freedom of faith proposed by the Inter-religious Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina, be adopted by the Parliament, that the reconstruction of all destroyed mosques in Bosnia-Herzegovina, especially Ferhadija mosque in Banja Luka and Aladža mosque in Foca, be made possible, that the Cemetery and Memorial Center in Potočari for the Srebrenica victims, be erected, that the Gazi Husrevbeg Library in Sarajevo, be built, and finally, that full religious rights and liberties to all citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina, be respected in every place and at any time.  

Dear brothers and sisters,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Excellencies and Friends,

I am convinced that the Bosnian Muslims will remain faithful to their Islamic tradition, their particular culture and their peaceful coexistence with their neighbors of other religions and cultures, as they have been doing so for centuries. They would be grateful, however, if the world recognized their right in the way of not ever allowing again that they be persecuted and killed by genocide in their own homeland.

My honorable predecessors, the Raisu-l-ulama, lived their lives and performed their duties as best as they knew and as much as they could in their own time, passing to us an amanet (trust) to continue their work as best as we know and as much as we can in our own time with a conviction that Almighty God, His Prophet and good people will see and recognize good deeds.

Therefore, I take this opportunity to recognize the work of my predecessors, and to pray for them to Almighty God to forgive them and to reward them for their good deeds, namely: Raisu-l-ulama the late Mustafa Hilmi Hadži Omerović, Raisu-l-ulama the late Mehmed Teufik Azabagić, Raisu-l-ulama the late Hafiz Sulejman Šarac, Raisu-l-ulama the late Muhamed Džemaludin Čaušević, Raisu-l-ulama the late Hafiz Ibrahim Maglajlić, Raisu-l-ulama the late Fehim Spaho, Raisu-l-ulama the late Ibrahim Fejić, Raisu-l-ulama the late Sulejman Kemura, Raisu-l-ulama the late Naim Hadžiabdić, Raisu-l-ulama the late Hafiz Husejn Mujić, and Raisu-l-ulama Jakub Selimovski.

Almighty God, if temptation befalls upon us, strengthen our faith.
Almighty God, ff we forget, remind us so that we may recognize truth from lie and good from evil.
Almighty God, if we sin, be merciful to us, Amen!

Translated by Amina Cerić